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Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Wonderful Wednesday #36

Hello and welcome to another list of wonderfulness. This week has been ever so hectic with starting placement. This means super early starts and coming in all sort of exhausted, but happy. Happy because I know this is where I want to be with my life. The weather has done a dramatic change down here and winter is finally setting in. As I trudged through Plymouth's pouring rain on Monday at some ungodly hour I finally realised the seasons were changing. I quite like watching the seasons change, but just maybe from a slightly warmer viewpoint.

On the whole though I am savouring the snuggly warm moments all the more. Winter heads me in different

1. Sweet potato chips. The biggest mountain of chips you ever did see. The kind of food that you have to stop halfway through for a break. On Saturday evening me and my flatmates went out for snack and a coffee. Little did we know that Caffeine Club n Plymouth's portions are ginormous and a snack constitutes a whole meal. I love sweet potatoes and and currently I'm eating them all the time; baked, in salads or mashed, but chips I can never quite master. Therefore when eating out they are my go to.

2. Fixed heating. After a few weeks of wrapping ourselves in blankets and putting on my dressing gown as soon as I get in the door for warmth the heating engineer finally came to fix the heating. Getting in to a warm bedroom has made my days.

3. Cornwall trips. On Saturday I went to do a recee of my placement journey. This involves buses and ferries, but is much easier than I thought it might be. The bus stops at the end of the school road, which makes 7am journeys easier. After sussing out the school we took a walk through the autumnal footpaths and the surrounding village. My first visit to Cornwall would not be complete without a pasty and the hot bacon and cheese one thawed my hands nicely after our long walk.

4. Cosy sleeps. On Saturday night I had one of the best sleeps I've had for ages. I showered and put on my warmest fluffy PJs. After a lovely hot chocolate I had an early night and didn't set an alarm. I felt to rested and relaxed when I woke. I took my time to slowly wake up to the light coming through my skylight and listened to the cricket commentary whilst snuggled.

5. Placement and a little bit proud. This week has been my first on placement and I'm loving it. I'm learning so much and taking in all the nuances of school life. I also got my first assignment back and I'm feeling a little bit proud of my first!

6. Warm towels after a shower. Is there any more explanation needed?

7. #TodayImGrateful. This is my favourite favourite hashtag right now. The lovely Katie Brennan (@katie_brennan) started this one. The idea is to write a daily tweet describing what you are grateful for. Following the hashtag gives me so much happiness. It's lovely to share in this. It has also given me a great record to look back on my week.

I think people underestimate just how happy and content you can be when you feel at peace in your life, when you feel like you're in just the right place. It always makes me so happy to hear people talk like that, having been through a good few years of being not at all where I wanted to be, I really appreciate the happiness being content can bring a person.

There's nothing like being outside at stupid o'clock, being rained on and blasted on all sides by bitter wind to fully confirm winter is here. any other way and we'd still be in denial about the change of season haha!

Sweet potatoes. I love thee. I like to make sweet potato fries just in the oven. If it's just me eating them, I like to cut them into round slices (about half a cm thick) put them on some baking paper and pop them in the oven (200 degrees) for about 25 minutes. They cook quicker than regular potatoes because they have a lot more water. But this doesn't really make them crispy, I'm just don't like to cook with oil so I compromise. If I want to flavour them a little, I'll put some garlic powder on them... I love me some garlic powder.

You can also cook them with oil, so either round slices again or fry shape (not as thin as fries, but not as think as "proper chips"... if that makes sense). You can dry them off a little if you want but I'm usually to lazy. I chuck them in a bowl, add some oil and shake them about to coat them, then garlic powder and whatever else you fancy. Throw them on a baking sheet and cook as before. 25 minutes is usually a good amount of time.

With all that potato talk in mind... they still never taste quite like the ones you get out, but you learn to love them all the same.

I hope your placement continues to go well! And congrats on your first assignment score. I feel like the first is always one of the most important ones. If I can give one piece of advice, I'd suggest seeing if you can find the marking scheme that the university uses, it really helped me improve my assignments because I have a better understanding of what was needed for higher marks.

Firstly, this comment is amazing. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. I am so hapy that you are finding that contentment too. It's so mportant I think.

I'm going to be searching out the mark schemes because I know they're going to make my life that little bit easier. My unii stuff is going pretty well.

And now to the good potatoey stuff: I do love you for this advice. My sweet potatoes are such a go to, so having new ways to cook them is so good. What is this garlic powder you speak of?? I think I need some.

Lovely Kate congratulations for your first! I went on holiday in Cornwall some years ago and it was amazing..it reminds me a lot of Ireland, an island that I love so much, with its bright green fields, its sheeps and cosy villages!xxxMartina